The Apostrophe

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Transcript of The Apostrophe

In English, it serves three purposes:

* The marking of the omission of one or more letters (as in the contraction of do not to don’t).The marking of possessive case (as in the cat’s whiskers).* The marking by some as plural of written items that are not words established in English orthography (as in P's and Q's). (This is considered incorrect by others; see Use in forming certain plurals. The use of the apostrophe to form plurals of proper words, as in apple’s, banana’s, etc., is universally considered incorrect.)* According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), ‘apostrophe’ comes ultimately from Greek ἡ ἀπόστροφος [προσῳδία] (hē apóstrophos [prosōidía], “[the accent of] ‘turning away’, or elision”), through Latin and French.

The apostrophe ( ’ although often rendered as ' ) is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritic mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet or certain other alphabets.

Let's get the facts straight!Origins of the Apostrophe

The answer lies back in the eighteenth century, when English grammar and English vocabulary were being codified for the first time. At the same time as the famous lexicographer Dr. Samuel Johnson was compiling his dictionary, the rules and principles of English grammar were formalized, and they look similar today. It was around this time that the rules about not splitting infinitives and not putting conjunctions at the end of a sentence were invented (though that’s another story...)The Apostrophe'Contractions. A contraction is when you put two words together and add an apostrophe in place of the dropped letters. For example, It's (it is or it has) you're (you are) I'll (I will) and They're (they are). There are many other contractions, you see them and use them everyday even without realizing it. There are some contractions that are not generally accepted in formal writing because they "encourage mispronunciation" of words or they look really sloppy (woe is I 71-72) Do not use We've all heard someone say "shoulda woulda coulda". That sounds like a shortened version of "should of would of could of" but the contraction those come from should be "should've could've would've"

Without the apostrophe, the proper way to write the words is: "should have would have could have"Pluralization Using the ApostrophePeople don't realize how much the apostrophe is actually usedWhat is this Floating Comma?The apostrophe is a punctuation mark that does not have a plethora of uses, but it still has significance.APresentation by the "It's..."team

Can you name them?Remember that "it's" is a contraction for "it is"Using "its" without the apostrophe has a different meaning, but we'll get to that later This handy piece of punctuation is also used when pluralizinglksdajfThe apostrophe has 3 usesIt may sound crazy, but we make letters and numbers plural A LOT.When explaining your grades:I have two A's and three B'sOr, we all know the song Summer of '69 `A Presentation by the It's... TeamHave You Ever Heard of a Selfish Punctuation Mark?Well the apostrophe can be!Pronouns don't have an apostrophe when they're possessive.When two people possess something jointly, only one apostrophe is used.For example:

Will and Karl's cell phone is blue. If a noun is plural with no "s"add 'sWhen a noun ends in "s"just add the apostrophe after...sometimesChloe's life is a disaster.Seamus' obsessions regarding possessions has led him to therapy sessions."It's" and "its" are a special case in our language.

We already established the facts about "it's"

but "its" on the other hand is its possessive version

Game time!How many apostrophes were in this presentation?36Presentation brought to you by:Karl VoigtDanielle TaylorWill AguilarChloe Sanchez